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Day 3 of being trapped in unknown Deshretian ruins. The mechanisms here are familiar, but still extremely complex. I haven’t figured out how to operate them.
Food and water supplies are stable, for now. I should have about a week’s worth of provisions.
.
Day 5 of my predicament. Still no progress.
.
Day 7 of…
Cyno gripped the rock he was using to write on the sandstone walls. His hand shook. With his dwindling strength, he could only muster enough energy to work on the puzzles that held him captive for a few hours a day, barely finding time to scratch a few records on the walls. Today was especially difficult.
Day 7 of my imprisonment. I have three more days of provisions at best.
He let his arm fall to his side. A rattling breath shook his chest, regalia long since discarded. Cyno tired to breathe as evenly as he could, but he suspected that he would run out of breathable air before he ran out of water. The small room, lit only by the glowing Deshretian technology, was insufferably stale. Yesterday, he had managed to open a door that led to another room, but it was a dead end. At least it allowed for a few more days of oxygen. The general glanced over at the doorway, and jolted back in surprise.
There was a shadow standing in the archway, strangely humanoid. Cyno quietly rose to his feet and summoned his staff to his hand, heart rate launching into overdrive. “Prowl” was the only word that could be used to describe the shadow’s movements, slinking around the room like a starved jungle cat. Cyno followed it with his eyes only. The general stood still, knees slightly bent in preparation, as guarded as he could be with his limited strength. Finally, after a tense stand-off, the shadow stepped forward and into the light.
And in its place, stood none other than his adoptive father, Cyrus.
Cyno did not lower his weapon or hesitate. He remained where he was, mind tunneled on the sight before him.
“Cyno, my boy. Aren’t you tired? It’s time to rest now.” Archons, that was Cyrus’ voice. Every tone and inflection was perfect, tangible, believable. Cyno felt his guard slipping. He’d forgotten all about the shadow, even the malicious energy he harbored started to feel strange and foreign. Why had he been angry? He couldn’t be angry at Cyrus.
As the general rose from his battle stance, something snapped in his mind. This couldn’t be Cyrus. The lack of oxygen and nourishment must be getting to him. This was an illusion.
“You’re not him,” stated Cyno, voice like stone scraping stone. He raised the Staff of Scarlet Sands once again.
Cyrus sighed. Then, he melted back into a shadow, a brief transition of inky darkness, before emerging with another face.
“It’s time to go home now, Cyno. It’s time to rest,” he watched in horror as Tighnari appeared in Cyrus’ place, one hand placed on his hip in his signature, sarcastic demeanor. This time, Cyno really did falter. His staff dropped from his hand. All of his limbs felt like they were made of paper. He took a staggering step forward.
“Tighnari…?”
The Forest Watcher smiled. “Yes, it’s me. Honestly, do you know anyone else with ears as big as mine?”
It was all so perfect. Too perfect. Cyno shook his head and placed a palm to his forehead. There’s no way it was actually Tighnari… The prospect was absolutely impossible. Cyno’s heart contorted. He desperately wanted to believe that it was really Tighnari standing before him, Cyrus as well, but Cyno was a scholar at heart. He knew all of this was an illusion. Whether it was a mechanism that was causing this, or his own delirium, Cyno didn’t know. All he knew, is that these illusions couldn’t stay here. If they did…he didn’t want to admit it, but he knew. Cyno would lose.
“Enough,” he growled.
“Cyno, what’s…” illusion Tighnari took a step back, hurt sweeping over his features. “What are you doing?”
The general inched closer. He couldn’t bring himself to turn his weapon on Tighnari. “Leave of your own accord. I will not hesitate.” Cyno called for a few sparks of lightning to crackle around his wrists for good measure.
“You’re scaring me. What’s gotten into you?”
“Please, just stop.” he told the illusion. Then, only loud enough for Cyno himself to hear, “Make it stop…”
“Okay, I will. I just need you to let go.”
“You know I can’t do that.”
“It’s easy. All you have to do is trust me.”
He did. Archons, he did. The easiest thing to do was surrender. But Cyno knew he couldn’t take the easy way out.
With the last ounce of mental and physical strength he still had, Cyno commanded the lightning that sat at his fingertips to arch over the pair, illuminating the room in a flash of violet light. He knew the lightning wouldn’t bring down the ceiling. He knew this, of course, because he’d already tried to do so.
When the light faded and Cyno’s eyes had blinked away the dancing spots, Tighnari was gone, blasted away without a trace. His breathing was ragged and desperate, forehead beaded in sweat. As the general keeled over, warm, yellow light washed over his exposed skin, like waking up to a pleasant spring morning in the rainforest.
Strange, how was there more light? Cyno hadn’t activated his Vision again…
It seemed he wouldn’t get to find out, for unconsciousness took Cyno’s unanswered questions into the unforgiving void.
.
.
.
“No, let him rest. Don’t try to force him to wake up.”
The voice reached Cyno’s ears before anything else, enveloping his brain in warm recognition. He forced his eyes to open, even against the blistering light of the midday sun. A smile found its way across his face almost immediately.
“Tigh…nari?” he croaked.
“Well, unless he decides to wake up on his own. Good morning, sunshine,” the Forest Watcher rolled his eyes and waved his hand in the air, seemingly sarcastic, but Cyno knew better. Whenever Tighnari was worried, he hid it under layers of wit and sarcasm, thicker the more worried he was. Cyno watched the tension in his friend’s shoulders release from where he was laying.
“Archons, Cyno! You nearly gave us a heart attack!”
“Nearly gave you a heart attack,” another voice corrected, “I had no doubts that Cyno would be alive.”
“Don’t give me that! I know you were worried, no matter how deep it’s buried in that cold heart of yours!”
Cyno turned his head to bring the two figures into view, though he knew it was Kaveh and Alhaitham well before he actually laid eyes on them. A gentle laugh shook his chest.
“General Cyno!” another new voice sparked from a few feet away, boots scuffing on sand as the person sprinted over. That person ended up being Collei, her hands still covered in green medicinal paste. “You’re awake!”
Cyno looked around at the crowd he’d attracted. All of his friends had come here personally to rescue him… Just the thought alone made the corners of his eyes prickle with emotion. Were he not so dehydrated, he might’ve started to cry right then and there.
“You all came to rescue me…Thank you.”
“Of course we did,” Tighnari sighed, placing a hand on Cyno’s stretcher. His fingertips brushed Cyno’s forearm, as if the ranger couldn’t decide whether to encircle his wrist or pull away completely.
Collei nodded vehemently. Kaveh let out a breath of exasperation before speaking. “Obviously! Seriously, though, could you not make this a regular occurrence? I do not need more stress in my life…”
Cyno laughed along with the rest of the group, but he felt himself slipping again. Tighnari had brought a group of Forest Rangers with him, and belatedly, Cyno realized just how much he was sacrificing just by being here. Not only had he left his post, he brought Collei and two other rangers. That left Gandharva Ville without two of its Vision holders. And, on top of that, Tighnari was braving the heat of the desert for him. Guilt bloomed in his stomach, but Cyno didn’t have the energy to act on it. He’d have to apologize later.
Tighnari met Cyno’s eyes. He seemed to understand what the general was thinking, and gently shook his head. “I’ll be alright,” he murmured, Kaveh’s passionate exchange with Alhaitham allowing Tighnari’s words to be shared only with Cyno, “You need to rest. Don’t push yourself.”
Cyno could only nod. He gratefully slipped back into unconsciousness, heart healed and mind cleared.